| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: his mind, even before he saw the prisoner. The man's reputation
was sufficient to make the thought ridiculous. But he had not made
up his mind whether it might not be a case of a murder after a
quarrel. Now he began to doubt even this when he looked into the
intelligent, harsh-featured face of the man in the cell. But Muller
had the gift of putting aside his own convictions, when he wanted
his mind clear to consider evidence before him.
Graumann had risen from his sitting position when he saw a stranger.
His heavy brows drew down over his, eyes, but he waited for the
other to speak.
"I am Detective Joseph Muller, from Vienna," began the newcomer,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: longer," said Holgrave, laughing, yet apparently much struck.
"I can assure you that this is a modern face, and one which you
will very probably meet. Now, the remarkable point is, that the
original wears, to the world's eye,--and, for aught I know, to his
most intimate friends,--an exceedingly pleasant countenance,
indicative of benevolence, openness of heart, sunny good-humor,
and other praiseworthy qualities of that cast. The sun, as you see,
tells quite another story, and will not be coaxed out of it, after
half a dozen patient attempts on my part. Here we have the man,
sly, subtle, hard, imperious, and, withal, cold as ice. Look at
that eye! Would you like to be at its mercy? At that mouth! Could
House of Seven Gables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: The yard of the Conciergerie ends at the quai between the Tour
d'Argent and the Tour Bonbec; thus the distance between them exactly
shows from the outside the width of the plot of ground. The corridor
called the Galerie de Saint-Louis, which extends from the Galerie
Marchande to the Courts of Appeals and the Tour Bonbec--in which, it
is said, Saint-Louis' room still exists--may enable the curious to
estimate the depths of the yard, as it is of the same length. Thus the
dark cells and the private rooms are under the Galerie Marchande. And
Queen Marie Antoinette, whose dungeon was under the present cells, was
conducted to the presence of the Revolutionary Tribunal, which held
its sittings in the place where the Court of Appeals now performs its
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: from him to her visitor with a face of pride and love; and it was
at such moments only that the light of humanity revived in her
eyes. It was hard for any stranger, it was impossible for any that
loved them, to behold these mute scenes, to recall the past, and
not to weep. But to the Captain, I think it was all happiness.
After these so long years, he had found his wife again; perhaps
kinder than ever before; perhaps now on a more equal footing;
certainly, to his eyes, still beautiful. And the call made on his
intelligence had not been made in vain. The merchants of Aux
Cayes, who had seen him tried in some 'counter-revolution' in 1845,
wrote to the consul of his 'able and decided measures,' 'his cool,
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